不久前，在一家制药公司新实验室落成典礼的聚会上，该公司研究处处长的六名属下进行了发言，讲述了化学家和生物学家们正在进行的了不起的工作——他们正在研究抵抗传染疾病的新疫苗，研究对抗过滤性病毒的新抗生素，研究舒解紧张的新镇静剂。他们先用动物进行实验，再在人类身上进行试验，结果都令人非常满意。NOT LONG AGO a group of business leaders and government officials met at the dedication of a pharmaceutical corporation's new laboratory. One after another, half a dozen subordinates to the research director arose and told of the fascinating work being done by chemists and biologists. They were developing new vaccines against communicable diseases, new antibiotics to fight viruses, new tranquilizers to ease tension. Their results, first with animals and then with human beings, were dramatic.
一批商场领袖和政府官员参加了聚会，其中一位官员对研究处处长说：“真是太神奇了，你的手下简直是魔术师。不过你怎么不讲讲呢？”This is marvelous, an official said to the research director. "Your men are really magicians. But why aren't you up there, speaking, too?"
“我只能对着自己的脚讲话，却不敢面对听众。”研究处处长黯然地说。I can talk to my feet-not to an audience, the research director said gloomily.
没有想到，主席让他吃惊不小，因为主席说：“我们还没有听到我们的研究处处长讲话，他不喜欢发表正式演讲，我想就请他对我们说几句话吧。”A little later, the chairman took him by surprise. "We haven't heard from our director of research," he said. "He doesn't like to give a formal speech. But I'm going to ask him to say a few words to us."
处长站起来很费劲地挤出几句话。他为自己没能详细地解说道歉，这就是他所说的全部内容。It was pitiful. The director stood up and managed no more than a couple of sentences. He apologized for not speaking at length, and that was the gist of his contribution.
他站在那里，一个在自己行业里的杰出人才，却与普通人没有两样，笨拙而迷惘。其实没有什么么困难的，他可以学会即席讲演的。我还没有看到我训练班上任何一个有决心的学员学不会这一招。他们一开始拥有的，就是这位研究处处长没有的——坚决、勇敢地击倒失败的态度。然后，需要一种不动摇的意志，不论怎样困难都坚决要讲。There he was, a brilliant man in his field, and he seemed as awkward and confused as a man could be. This was not necessary. He could have learned to speak impromptu on his feet. I have never seen a serious and determined member of our classes who couldn't learn this. At the start, it takes what this research director hadn't given it-a resolute and brave rejection of one's defeatist attitude. Then, perhaps for quite a while, it takes an unwavering will to do the job no matter how hard it may be.
“若是先有准备并有练习，那没有丝毫困难，”你会这样说，“可是如果是意料之外的讲话，我真的不知所措了。”I get along all right if I've prepared my talk and practiced it, you may say. "But I'm at a loss for words if I'm asked to talk when I don't expect it."
情急之下，能够整理自己的思想并发表谈话，有时候，要比经过长时间努力准备后的演讲更重要。现代的商业需要以及现代人口头沟通的自在随意，使这种即席发言的能力不可缺少。我们需要迅速组织自己的思路并流畅地遣词造句。许多影响到今日工业和政府的决定，都不是出于一人，而是在会议桌上商定的。个人可以各自发言，然而在这种群策群议的会议里，他的话必须强劲有力，才能对集体的决议产生影响。这也是即席演讲要生动突出的原因。The ability to assemble one's thoughts and to speak on the spur of the moment is even more important, in some ways, than the ability to speak only after lengthy and laborious preparation. The demands of modern business and the current casualness with which modern oral communication is carried on make it imperative to be able to mobilize our thoughts quickly and verbalize fluently. Many of the decisions that affect industry and government today are made, not by one man, but around the conference table. The individual still has his say, but what he has to say has to be forcefully stated in the forum of group opinion. This is where the ability to speak impromptu comes alive and produces results.
